Tsunami Hits PDP as 7 National Leaders Resign
Tsunami Hits PDP as 7 National Leaders Resign
By Alabidun Shuaib Abdulrahman
The crisis engulfing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has worsened with the departure of seven of the opposition party’s national officers.
Colonel Austin Akobundu (retd), the party’s National Organising Secretary, acknowledged the resignation on Tuesday but did not elaborate.
Uche Secondus, the party’s National Chairman, whose term ends in December, has been under fire with intense pressure to step down.
The National Chairman even fell out with Nyesom Wike, his benefactor, who criticised him publicly.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State had made efforts to reconcile the duo but it is unclear if that yielded the desired result.
Before the misunderstanding with Wike, Kassim Afegbua, a PDP chieftain from Edo State, had called on Secondus to step down over his handling of the party affairs.
He had accused him of corruption and even filed a suit against him.
Secondus had also sued Afegbua for defamation.
The PDP has been hit by a wave of defections, especially of some of its governors in the last three months.
Governors David Umahi (Ebonyi), Ben Ayade (Cross River), and Bello Matawalle (Zamfara) had left the party for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
This made some of the party members to lose confidence in the leadership of Secondus.
In July, a member of the House of Representatives, Rimamnde Shawulu, asked Secondus to resign for failing to halt the flow of defections.
Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the opposition party, was not available for comments as of the time this report was filed.